r/AskAnAustralian

Genuine question.

I actually agree with tightening obvious loopholes.

If someone finishes a degree and then keeps jumping into unrelated lower-level courses purely to extend their stay, or keeps using application after application to remain on bridging visas with no genuine purpose, close those loopholes. A student visa should be for studying, not an endless backdoor residency system.

But somehow the broader housing debate now feels like:

Housing is unaffordable → migration is high → cut students/temporary migrants → problem solved.

The Coalition is proposing around 650,000 fewer temporary visa holders over four years, including major cuts to graduate and student pathways. One Nation wants an even larger reduction of around 750,000 temporary visas. Labor has also already tightened student visa rules.

Maybe migration should be lower. That's a perfectly legitimate debate.

But why are we acting as though that's the whole housing problem?

The Productivity Commission literally says Australia doesn't build enough homes where people want to live, pointing to land-use restrictions, infrastructure and supply constraints.

House prices have also massively outrun wages. From late 2015 to mid-2025, Australian dwelling prices rose about 63% while wages rose only 27%.

Then there's investment property.

RBA data shows about 2.3 million Australians owned investment property in 2022–23. Around 70% owned one, which is important context. But the other 30% who owned multiple properties held roughly half of all investment properties. Nearly 40% of investors were in the highest income quintile, and the RBA notes that higher-income investors benefit more from things like negative gearing and CGT discounts.

I'm not saying landlords are evil or that investment property should disappear.

I'm asking why all of these things aren't discussed with the same intensity.

And international students aren't simply a cost Australia carries.

In 2025 international education brought almost $55 BILLION into Australia: about $24.4b in tuition fees and $30.4b in accommodation, food, transport and other spending.

International students also generally cannot get Commonwealth-supported university places or HELP loans. They pay the overseas fees their university charges.

And when they work, their income isn't magically tax-free because they're foreign. Many students studying here for more than six months are Australian residents for tax purposes and pay the same resident income-tax rates.

They also provide labour. The RBA estimated international students earned about $13.4b from Australian employment in 2023–24, while education exports were about $50b that year—meaning collectively they were spending far more in Australia than they earned here.

Now, do they affect housing?

Of course.

More people need somewhere to live. Around half of international students use the private rental market.

But even the RBA estimates that another 100,000 international students would raise private rents by roughly 0.5% nationally under its assumptions, and says the post-COVID increase in students probably accounted for only a small share of the overall rent increase.

So why is such a complicated problem increasingly presented as though one group explains everything?

Temporary migrants and international students are also politically convenient people to target. Most cannot vote federally. Reforming zoning, confronting local opposition to density, changing property tax incentives or policies affecting existing homeowners and investors touches people who do vote.

That doesn't prove that's why politicians choose these policies.

But surely Australians should at least question the incentive.

Maybe lower migration is part of the answer.

But so are:

housing supply,

house prices versus wages,

planning and zoning,

construction costs,

infrastructure,

property investment,

tax settings,

and social housing.

Stop visa hopping and abuse. Absolutely.

Set migration at a level the country can actually accommodate. Absolutely worth debating.

But don't turn a decades-old housing problem into:

“international students and immigrants did it.”

They're part of the equation.

They aren't the entire equation.

Coming home today, I went to the station as usual and saw this freaking girl sitting in a corner with a sad look on her face, just kissing and cuddling her little dog. She looked like she was barely getting by, almost homeless or homeless. Man, that scene depressed me AF. What the hell is happening to Australia?

Just got my Commodore serviced which cost me $2.4k so thinking it might be getting close to time to bite the bullet and get a new car, and would want to go electric for sure.

BYD Atto 1 only $19,990 at the moment seems like great value. I live in the inner suburbs, drive about 5,000km a year (mostly short trips and to visit my parents half an hour away). My partner's got a 4WD for camping and roadtrips.

Downside is I live in an apartment and won't be able to charge there, so would have to rely on public charging - but on my current mileage I'd only need to charge at most once a week so shouldn't be too bad.

Would hope to get a bit of $ reselling my Commodore but not expecting much. And then would either get a loan or novated lease to cover the rest. (Though not sure if I can get a novated lease given I'm on a one year contract for work?) I make $120k a year but the mortgage and apartment repair costs have been eating up a lot of my income and savings.

Keen for any advice, perspectives, etc particularly from people in a similar boat.

In recent times Bunnings has instituted a bunch of changes that have seen me just begin to loathe the place, and actually go elsewhere. I go in these days and expect no excitement and only scrutiny for being a shitcunt (i.e. their customer).

They made it much harder to return items - It started when the returns process took a turn and you had to both provide a receipt AND be the original purchase method. Gone were the days you could rock up and at the very least if they needed, show them a bank statement and get a store credit. A few years of poor receipt keeping is on me but I'm fucked if I need an original card when I've swapped banks a few times. And the first time i tried to return something under the new process, better fucking believe they treated me like I had stolen the shit.

They changed the clearance item process - ABSOLUTE CUNTS for doing this, gone of the days where I could get a 5 piece Stabila level set for $15, or a 33 piece sidchrome set in a cantilever tool box for $25. Now it all gets slapped with a generic reduction percentage, plants die before they sell now and junk accumulates on the clearance trollys like never before.

Everything went under lock and key - wanna view that cable, go to the front counter. Want to hold that hammer, call the attendant to unlock them. Wanna take a shit in their toilets, install a ring camera so they can watch, fuckers.

Fucking security gates, more self serve registers and closing the customer service desk for payments - the coupe de gras of their turn to enshitification, now its just coles or woolies except the cunt looking at the receipt on the way out is an even bigger judgier cunt, yes you STUART you middle aged door guarding cuck.

And lets not even start on how their actual stock has gotten shitter too, pet food, fuck off. Toasters and microwaves, fuck off.

Fuck Bunnings and fuck Stuart in particular.

I bought an Ozito PCX blower with a gutter cleaning kit and battery about a year ago. The switch died on it and wouldn't run. I took it back with the reciept and they said I had to bring it back with the charger and batteries. WTF? I just want the blower fixed.

So I toddle off home, look at the 3 chargers and 6x 4AH batteries and of course have no idea which charger or battery belonged to it when I bought the kit.

I just wanted the blower repaired or replaced. Not the batteries, not the charger or anything else.

So I go back there, blower, box of batteries and chargers and they asked "Where is the gutter cleaning attachments?" I said I just want the bloody blower switch fixed or replaced.

They said that I have to have the gutter cleaning attachments too, but because it was a one off special and they don't have that kit anymore they will take the blower, battery, charger and gutter attachments off me and replace it with just the blower. Not good enough!

So I start kicking up a stink, people are listening and waiting with their Bunnings junk and I'm telling them I want the blower repaired or replaced. The goose at returns calls his manager and he explains the same thing. I stood firm and said it's under warranty, I have a right for it to be repaired or replaced and if you want to replace it, it will have to be the complete kit.

We argued for half an hour and they finally went and got a blower and handed it to me saying they won't be doing that ever again.

Just because they don't stock something anymore, they can't just rip you off and give you less.

What a joke.

Hello lovely Australians. Bit of a different question this, but I have to ask.

My uncle immigrated to Australia back in the 60s. Sadly he couldn’t return to his home land before his death, and I never met him.

Im due to travel to Australia next year, and I want to visit his final resting place. The idea is to bring a bit of his childhood home with me, a stone from a wall ( house is soon to be demolished), and place it on his grave in an ornament. Sort of, he couldn’t go back home one last time, home came to him.

Now I have an idea that Australia has stringent laws about importing stuff like this, but I’d like to know if this is possible, or outright impossible to do. Of course I would sterilize the stone/rock before hand.

Any information or where to research/email is appreciated. Thank you.

My father in law is in a residential aged care facility in Tasmania. We live in Sydney and are planning to move him up to be closer to us as he’s just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. So we’re beginning the process of looking at aged care facilities in Sydney and I was wondering if anyone has been through this before and has any advice.

He has no assets and currently pays the base daily rate which is about 85% of his pension. Many of the for-profit providers have prices on their websites (in the millions) which he/we can’t afford. What are the options in cases where someone can’t pay that price? In Tasmania you just pay the base rate - is it the same in Sydney?

When we went through the process of finding him a bed in Tassie there was an excellent organisation called Care2Serve which has visibility of the available beds - is there an organisation like that for NSW?

I’m posting this without naming the business or anyone involved because I don’t want to identify people publicly.

I personally witnessed troubling treatment of staff at a local business and later became aware of an incident that affected the business, followed by a community fundraiser connected with its recovery. However, concerns about staff being treated unfairly and remaining unpaid were not, as far as I understand, resolved.

I reported my concerns to the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Australian Taxation Office. It has now been about a year, and I have not seen any apparent outcome. The business has since reopened.

What continues to upset me is seeing people treat the owner as though they were the main victim, while the staff affected seem to have been forgotten. I’m not posting this to identify the business, encourage harassment, or ask anyone to investigate or contact the people involved.

I’m genuinely trying to understand how people cope when they witness conduct they believe is wrong, report it through the proper channels, and then see no visible consequences.

How do you let go of something like this when you feel frustrated and powerless, particularly when it seems as though everyone else has moved on?

I drive a motorcycle (neon green and black naked bike), and a WRX. So I understand I’m a magnet. What I don’t understand is why I’ve had multiple instances of cops doing a U-turn across multi lane main roads with their lights on, as soon as we cross paths going opposite directions. These situations are when I’ve been doing absolutely nothing wrong, and they just “random breath test” me. Other situations I’ve had are them sitting on the road shoulder, then peeling off and following me for some time before turning on their lights. Is that type of thing normal for driving magnet vehicles?

At first it was “oh they’re just checking my plates”. Then it was “that was weird”. Now it’s “I’m being targeted”… although in some situations they 100% hadn’t run my number plate before pulling me over, so I’m not sure how I’m being targeted. Also before this week, I also had zero demerit points and a clean record, so why they’d flag me (if they actually have), has left me bewildered. I’ve never failed a breath test as I don’t drink. No criminal record. Nothing I can think of to interest them THAT much.

Any ideas?

Edit: I’m in NSW if this helps
Edit2: to clarify, I’m not having a whinge. I’m legitimately interested in why they’re so immediately and intently interested in breath testing me.

Hi everyone!

Has anyone here had experience filing reports with Fair Trading and ACCC? I made a $2500 purchase 14 months ago and the product failed just outside of its 12 month warranty. The resolution offered by the manufacturer was to buy an upgraded model. I'm just wondering whether it's worth pursuing through these channels or whether it's a waste of time.

Grateful for any insights.

Thank you.

**EDIT**

Purchase was for an ice bath and chiller setup.

Just to add the response from the seller/manufacturer

Thanks for your message and for sharing the details of the issue. I’m really sorry to hear about the trouble you’re experiencing with your chiller.

The unit is now outside of its standard warranty period. Because of this, we’re unable to process a standard warranty replacement.

However, I’d still like to offer you an alternative solution that many customers choose in this situation.

We can offer you our Primal Xpro Chiller upgrade at 30% off, which is our newest system and a significant step up in both cooling power and long-term reliability.

If you’d like, I can arrange the 30% upgrade option for you and help with compatibility and next steps.

Just let me know how you’d like to proceed and I’ll take care of everything for you.

Best,

Joe

Can someone recommend a non sticky/non greasy daily use ( mostly for face and arms) sunscreen for my teenage kid.

He has slightly oily skin and sweat a lot. I use regular Nivea or banana boat. Buy they are quite skicky/greasy and very uncomfortable for him for his daily walks through school and to and from school.

( Not exactly sure if it matters, but we are non Caucasian, trying to give as much information as possible).

Thanks in advance.

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